Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Urban Paradise Part I

In a land where teenage pregnancy thrives and bullets riddling though the local bodega's window is the alarm clock there still lies hope!Welcome to Urban America where foster care, alcoholism, drug addiction,, poverty, and child abuse deteriorates the well being of the ghetto's luminous souls. Kids in urban neighborhoods face more dire circumstances than not being able to go to college. Beyond the tragedies of "da hood" urban youth start out with a trajectory that seems promising. Most parents and relatives of children from urban communities will say that they were once intelligent and had bight futures. Unfortunately these same children were absconded by the street where there potential for Law School evaporated and dreams of becoming a doctor were assassinated. Most of the kids born into these broken homes are at high risk for incarceration and teen pregnancy due to the lack of family structure and stability. They seek escape from their harsh realities through sex, violence, drugs, and material possessions. Negative peer influence does not help the situation either. Locked in a prism of demise they have only a few options to resort to.

Poetry, dance, and other artistic outlets serve as a creative space for a much needed catharsis for the urban youth. However gangs and local neighborhood crews become a negative alternative for these confused teenagers. Teenagers are misunderstood which is why their crimes are dramatacized and their fates often limited. In a society driven by fear they are marginalized. Even though most modern day families lack a strong religious upbringing which leaves them devoid of moral grounding and causes them to pensate criminal activity more than an avid churchgoer. In efforts to preserve their sanity some of the youth join churches and go to college. These institutions provide them with support and a temporary escape from their turbulent backgrounds. Unfortunately, in the larger majority of these stories emotional wounds are alleviated by material medicine. Black youth falls prey to the materialism portrayed by the media that psychologically and wrongfully causes to you equate self worth with material goods.In reaction to this propaganda they obtain the funds by any means necessary in order to purchase these goods. Whether its through robbery, stick -ups, or drug dealing they obtain the goods one way or the other. Young and fatherless teenage girls seeking attention and love are plagued by stds and premature pregnancies. Psychologically distraught teenage boys lash out at each other to superficially elevate their self esteem. In order to protect or boost their ego they combat each other in each and every way possible. Whether the competition is how many girls, how many Jordans they own, how many basketball games they won, and in the worst case scenario how many people they murdered! Black male aggression towards a society that offers few opportunities for people of color is channeled through pimp activity, gang activity, gunfire exchange and any other type of activity that exerts confrontational power. Born into a country that opposes the progression of men of color via racism and discrimination and bereft of a primary role model (father)the male black youth is a perilous predicament. In summation low self worth creates internal turmoil that projects itself through urban crime unexpected pregnancies, along with a litany of other social problems!